| Randolph Partain |
I have never had a problem with Find the Path in its original form. If the "physical actions to take" involve climbing up a 60-foot rock wall, the character's still have to overcome that challenge to keep going. Or walk only on a narrow strip of tiling on a floor to avoid a nasty trap (Balance checks all around).
Combat can soak up a little time of the spell's duration and potentially make the spell dangerous to a party. Getting to your destination after a tough fight without taking time to recuperate can be deadly, depending on what waits at the destination.
And there is always the difference between knowing what to do and being able to do it. If the appropriate way to overcome a specific obstacle is a high level spell that the characters can't yet cast (but which can be cast from a staff in a nearby room that wasn't on their spell's direct route), they have gained some benefit from the spell, but it hasn't completely removed the challenge of exploring a dungeon. Same for needing a particular special key to open a door, if that key is on an NPC located elsewhere in the complex.
A creative DM can add these kinds of things to any dungeon very easily, without completely taking away the benefit of the powerful spell. It allows the characters to overcome essential challenges while giving them some idea of how best to do so. I will continue to use the original 3.5 version of the spell, and I think many insightful DMs will do so as well.